Historical and mythological. Mythology as a science

Ancient Greece is considered the cradle of European civilization, which has given modern times a lot of cultural wealth and inspired scientists and artists. The myths of Ancient Greece hospitably open the doors to a world inhabited by gods, heroes and monsters. The intricacies of relationships, the insidiousness of nature, divine or human, unthinkable fantasies plunge us into the abyss of passions, making us shudder with horror, empathy and admiration for the harmony of that reality that existed many centuries ago, but so relevant at all times!

1) Typhon

The most powerful and frightening creature of all those generated by Gaia, the personification of the fiery forces of the earth and its vapors, with their destructive actions. The monster has incredible strength and has 100 dragon heads on the back of its head, with black tongues and fiery eyes. From its mouths one hears the ordinary voice of the gods, then the roar of a terrible bull, then the roar of a lion, then the howling of a dog, then a sharp whistle that echoes in the mountains. Typhon was the father of mythical monsters from Echidna: Orff, Cerberus, Hydra, Colchis Dragon and others who threatened the human race on earth and under the earth until the hero Hercules destroyed them, except for the Sphinx, Cerberus and Chimera. From Typhon all the empty winds went, except Notus, Boreas and Zephyr. Typhon, crossing the Aegean, scattered the islands of the Cyclades, which had previously been closely spaced. The fiery breath of the monster reached the island of Fer and destroyed its entire western half, and turned the rest into a scorched desert. The island has since taken on the shape of a crescent. Giant waves raised by Typhon reached the island of Crete and destroyed the kingdom of Minos. Typhon was so intimidating and strong that the Olympian gods fled from their abode, refusing to fight with him. Only Zeus, the bravest of the young gods, decided to fight Typhon. The fight went on for a long time, in the heat of battle, the opponents moved from Greece to Syria. Here Typhon shattered the earth with his giant body, subsequently these traces of the battle were filled with water and became rivers. Zeus pushed Typhon north and threw him into the Ionian Sea, near the Italian coast. The Thunderer incinerated the monster with lightning and threw him into Tartarus under Mount Etna on the island of Sicily. In ancient times, it was believed that the numerous eruptions of Etna occur due to the fact that lightning, previously thrown by Zeus, erupts from the mouth of the volcano. Typhon served as the personification of the destructive forces of nature, such as hurricanes, volcanoes, tornadoes. The word "typhoon" came from the English version of this Greek name.

2) Dracains

They represent a female snake or dragon, often with human features. Drakai include, in particular, Lamia and Echidna.

The name "lamia" etymologically comes from Assyria and Babylon, where the demons who killed infants were called so. Lamia, the daughter of Poseidon, was the queen of Libya, the beloved of Zeus and gave birth to children from him. The extraordinary beauty of Lamia herself kindled a fire of revenge in the heart of Hera, and out of jealousy, Hera killed Lamia's children, turned her beauty into ugliness and deprived her husband's beloved of sleep. Lamia was forced to take refuge in a cave and, at the behest of Hera, turned into a bloody monster, in desperation and madness, kidnapping and devouring other people's children. Since Hera deprived her of sleep, Lamia wandered tirelessly at night. Zeus, who took pity on her, gave her the opportunity to take out her eyes in order to fall asleep, and only then could she become harmless. Becoming in a new form half woman, half snake, she gave birth to a terrible offspring called lamias. Lamia have polymorphic abilities, can act in various guises, usually as animal-human hybrids. However, more often they are likened to beautiful girls, because it is easier to charm careless men. They also attack the sleeping and deprive them of their vitality. These nocturnal ghosts, under the guise of beautiful maidens and young men, suck the blood of young people. Lamia in ancient times was also called ghouls and vampires, who, according to the popular idea of ​​the modern Greeks, hypnotically lured young men and virgins and then killed them by drinking their blood. Lamia, with some skill, is easy to expose, for this it is enough to make her give a voice. Since the language of lamias is forked, they are deprived of the ability to speak, but they can whistle melodiously. In later legends of European peoples, Lamia was depicted as a snake with the head and chest of a beautiful woman. It was also associated with a nightmare - Mara.

The daughter of Forkis and Keto, the granddaughter of Gaia-Earth and the god of the sea Pontus, she was depicted as a gigantic woman with a beautiful face and a spotted snake body, less often a lizard, combining beauty with an insidious and malicious disposition. She gave birth to a whole host of monsters from Typhon, different in appearance, but disgusting in their essence. When she attacked the Olympians, Zeus drove her and Typhon away. After the victory, the Thunderer imprisoned Typhon under Mount Etna, but allowed Echidna and her children to live as a challenge to future heroes. She was immortal and ageless and lived in a gloomy cave underground far from people and gods. Crawling out to hunt, she lay in wait and lured travelers, further mercilessly devouring them. The mistress of snakes, Echidna, had an unusually hypnotic gaze, which not only people, but also animals were unable to resist. In various versions of the myths, Echidna was killed by Hercules, Bellerophon or Oedipus during her undisturbed sleep. Echidna is by nature a chthonic deity, whose power, embodied in his descendants, was destroyed by the heroes, marking the victory of ancient Greek heroic mythology over primitive teratomorphism. The ancient Greek legend of Echidna formed the basis of medieval legends about the monstrous reptile as the most vile of all creatures and the unconditional enemy of mankind, and also served as an explanation for the origin of dragons. Echidna is the name given to an oviparous mammal covered with needles, living in Australia and the Pacific Islands, as well as the Australian snake, the largest of the poisonous snakes in the world. Echidna is also called an evil, caustic, insidious person.

3) Gorgons

These monsters were the daughters of the sea god Phorkis and his sister Keto. There is also a version that they were the daughters of Typhon and Echidna. There were three sisters: Euryale, Stheno and Medusa Gorgon - the most famous of them and the only mortal of the three monstrous sisters. Their appearance inspired horror: winged creatures covered with scales, with snakes instead of hair, fanged mouths, with a look that turns all living things into stone. During the duel between the hero Perseus and Medusa, she was pregnant by the god of the seas, Poseidon. From the headless body of Medusa with a stream of blood came her children from Poseidon - the giant Chrysaor (father of Geryon) and the winged horse Pegasus. From the drops of blood that fell into the sands of Libya, poisonous snakes appeared and destroyed all living things in it. Libyan legend says that red corals appeared from the stream of blood that spilled into the ocean. Perseus used the head of Medusa in a battle with a sea dragon sent by Poseidon to devastate Ethiopia. Showing the face of Medusa to the monster, Perseus turned it into stone and saved Andromeda, the royal daughter, who was intended to be sacrificed to the dragon. The island of Sicily is traditionally considered the place where the Gorgons lived and where Medusa, depicted on the flag of the region, was killed. In art, Medusa was depicted as a woman with snakes instead of hair and often boar tusks instead of teeth. In Hellenic images, a beautiful dying gorgon girl is sometimes found. Separate iconography - images of the severed head of Medusa in the hands of Perseus, on the shield or aegis of Athena and Zeus. The decorative motif - gorgoneion - still adorns clothes, household items, weapons, tools, jewelry, coins and building facades. It is believed that the myths about the Gorgon Medusa are connected with the cult of the Scythian snake-footed goddess-progenitor Tabiti, whose existence is evidenced by references in ancient sources and archaeological finds of images. In the Slavic medieval book legends, Medusa Gorgon turned into a maiden with hair in the form of snakes - the maiden Gorgonia. The animal jellyfish got its name precisely because of the resemblance to the moving hair-snakes of the legendary Gorgon Medusa. In a figurative sense, a "gorgon" is a grouchy, vicious woman.

Three goddesses of old age, granddaughters of Gaia and Pontus, Gorgon sisters. Their names were Deino (Trembling), Pefredo (Alarm) and Enyo (Horror). They were gray from birth, for three of them they had one eye, which they used in turn. Only the Grays knew the location of the island of Medusa Gorgon. On the advice of Hermes, Perseus went to them. While one of the grays had an eye, the other two were blind, and the sighted gray led the blind sisters. When, having taken out the eye, the graya passed it on to the next one in turn, all three sisters were blind. It was this moment that Perseus chose to take the eye. The helpless grays were horrified and were ready to do everything if only the hero would return the treasure to them. After they had to tell them how to find Medusa Gorgon and where to get winged sandals, a magic bag and an invisibility helmet, Perseus gave the eye to the Grays.

This monster, born of Echidna and Typhon, had three heads: one was a lion's, the second was a goat's, growing on its back, and the third, a snake's, ended with a tail. It breathed fire and burned everything in its path, devastating the houses and crops of the inhabitants of Lycia. Repeated attempts to kill the Chimera, made by the king of Lycia, suffered invariable defeat. Not a single person dared to come close to her dwelling, surrounded by the decaying carcasses of decapitated animals. Fulfilling the will of King Jobat, the son of King Corinth, Bellerophon, on a winged Pegasus, went to the cave of Chimera. The hero killed her, as predicted by the gods, hitting the Chimera with an arrow from a bow. As proof of his feat, Bellerophon delivered one of the severed heads of the monster to the Lycian king. Chimera is the personification of a fire-breathing volcano, at the base of which snakes are teeming, there are many meadows and goat pastures on the slopes, flames blaze from the top and there, above, lions' dens; probably the Chimera is a metaphor for this unusual mountain. The Chimera Cave is considered to be the area near the Turkish village of Cirali, where there are exits to the surface of natural gas in concentrations sufficient for its open combustion. A detachment of deep-sea cartilaginous fish is named after the Chimera. In a figurative sense, a chimera is a fantasy, an unrealizable desire or action. In sculpture, images of fantastic monsters are called chimeras, while it is believed that stone chimeras can come to life to terrify people. The prototype of the chimera served as the basis for the terrible gargoyles, considered a symbol of horror and extremely popular in the architecture of Gothic buildings.

The winged horse that emerged from the dying Gorgon Medusa at the moment when Perseus cut off her head. Since the horse appeared at the source of the Ocean (in the ideas of the ancient Greeks, the Ocean was a river encircling the Earth), it was called Pegasus (translated from Greek - “stormy current”). Swift and graceful, Pegasus immediately became the object of desire for many heroes of Greece. Day and night, hunters ambushed Mount Helikon, where Pegasus, with one blow of his hoof, made clean, cool water of a strange dark violet color, but very tasty, spring up. This is how the famous source of Hippocrene's poetic inspiration appeared - the Horse Spring. The most patient have happened to see a ghostly steed; Pegasus let the most lucky ones get so close to him that it seemed a little more - and you can touch his beautiful white skin. But no one managed to catch Pegasus: at the last moment, this indomitable creature flapped its wings and, with the speed of lightning, was carried away beyond the clouds. Only after Athena gave the young Bellerophon a magical bridle, he was able to saddle the wonderful horse. Riding Pegasus, Bellerophon was able to get close to the Chimera and struck down the fire-breathing monster from the air. Intoxicated by his victories with the constant help of the devoted Pegasus, Bellerophon imagined himself equal to the gods and, saddling Pegasus, went to Olympus. The angry Zeus struck the proud, and Pegasus received the right to visit the shining peaks of Olympus. In later legends, Pegasus fell into the number of horses of Eos and into the strashno.com.ua society of muses, into the circle of the latter, in particular, because he stopped Mount Helikon with the blow of his hoof, which began to oscillate at the sound of the songs of the muses. From the point of view of symbolism, Pegasus combines the vitality and power of a horse with liberation, like a bird, from earthly gravity, so the idea is close to the unfettered spirit of the poet, overcoming earthly obstacles. Pegasus personified not only a wonderful friend and faithful comrade, but also boundless intelligence and talent. The favorite of the gods, muses and poets, Pegasus often appears in the visual arts. In honor of Pegasus, the constellation of the northern hemisphere, a genus of marine ray-finned fish and weapons are named.

7) Colchis dragon (Colchis)

Son of Typhon and Echidna, vigilantly awake fire-breathing huge dragon guarding the Golden Fleece. The name of the monster is given by the area of ​​​​its location - Colchis. The king of Colchis, Eet, sacrificed a ram with a golden skin to Zeus, and hung the skin on an oak tree in the sacred grove of Ares, where Colchis guarded it. Jason, a pupil of the centaur Chiron, on behalf of Pelius, king of Iolk, went to Colchis for the Golden Fleece on the Argo ship, built specifically for this trip. King Eet gave Jason impossible orders so that the Golden Fleece would remain forever in Colchis. But the god of love Eros ignited love for Jason in the heart of the sorceress Medea, daughter of Eet. The princess sprinkled Colchis with a sleeping potion, calling for help from the god of sleep, Hypnos. Jason stole the Golden Fleece, hastily sailing with Medea on the Argo back to Greece.

The giant, the son of Chrysaor, born from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa, and the oceanid Kalliroi. He was known as the strongest on earth and was a terrible monster with three bodies fused at the waist, had three heads and six arms. Geryon owned wonderful cows of unusually beautiful red color, which he kept on the island of Erifia in the Ocean. Rumors about the beautiful cows of Geryon reached the Mycenaean king Eurystheus, and he sent Hercules after them, who was in his service. Hercules went through all of Libya before reaching the extreme West, where, according to the Greeks, the world ended, which was bordered by the Ocean River. The path to the ocean was blocked by mountains. Hercules parted them with his mighty hands, forming the Strait of Gibraltar, and installed stone steles on the southern and northern shores - the Pillars of Hercules. On the golden boat of Helios, the son of Zeus sailed to the island of Erifia. Hercules slew with his famous club the watchdog Orff, who was guarding the flock, killed the shepherd, and then took the fight with the three-headed master who came to the rescue. Geryon covered himself with three shields, three spears were in his powerful hands, but they turned out to be useless: the spears could not penetrate the skin of the Nemean lion thrown over the hero’s shoulders. Hercules also fired several poisonous arrows at Geryon, and one of them turned out to be fatal. Then he loaded the cows into the boat of Helios and swam across the Ocean in the opposite direction. So the demon of drought and darkness was defeated, and the heavenly cows - rain-bearing clouds - were released.

A huge two-headed dog guarding the cows of the giant Gerion. The offspring of Typhon and Echidna, the older brother of the dog Cerberus and other monsters. He is the father of the Sphinx and the Nemean lion (from Chimera), according to one version. Orff is not as famous as Cerberus, therefore much less is known about him and information about him is contradictory. Some myths report that in addition to two dog heads, Orff has seven more dragon heads, and there was a snake in place of the tail. And in Iberia, the dog had a sanctuary. He was killed by Hercules during the execution of his tenth feat. The plot of the death of Orff at the hands of Hercules, who led away the cows of Geryon, was often used by ancient Greek sculptors and potters; presented on numerous antique vases, amphoras, stamnos and skyphos. According to one of the very adventurous versions, Orff in ancient times could simultaneously personify two constellations - Canis Major and Minor. Now these stars are combined into two asterisms, and in the past their two brightest stars (Sirius and Procyon, respectively) could well be seen by people as fangs or the heads of a monstrous two-headed dog.

10) Cerberus (Cerberus)

The son of Typhon and Echidna, a terrible three-headed dog with a terrible dragon tail, covered with menacingly hissing snakes. Cerberus guarded the entrance to the gloomy, full of horrors of the underworld of Hades, making sure that no one came out of there. According to ancient texts, Cerberus welcomes those who enter hell with his tail and tears to pieces those who try to escape. In a later legend, he bites the new arrivals. To appease him, a honey gingerbread was placed in the coffin of the deceased. In Dante, Cerberus torments the souls of the dead. For a long time, at Cape Tenar, in the south of the Peloponnese, they showed a cave, claiming that here Hercules, on the instructions of King Eurystheus, descended into the kingdom of Hades in order to bring Cerberus out of there. Appearing before the throne of Hades, Hercules respectfully asked the underground god to allow him to take the dog to Mycenae. No matter how severe and gloomy Hades was, he could not refuse the son of the great Zeus. He set only one condition: Hercules must tame Cerberus without weapons. Hercules saw Cerberus on the banks of the Acheron River - the border between the world of the living and the dead. The hero grabbed the dog with his mighty hands and began to strangle him. The dog howled menacingly, trying to escape, the snakes writhed and stung Hercules, but he only squeezed his hands tighter. Finally, Cerberus gave in and agreed to follow Hercules, who took him to the walls of Mycenae. King Eurystheus was horrified at one glance at the terrible dog and ordered him to be sent back to Hades as soon as possible. Cerberus was returned to his place in Hades, and it was after this feat that Eurystheus gave Hercules freedom. During his stay on earth, Cerberus dropped drops of bloody foam from his mouth, from which the poisonous herb aconite later grew, otherwise called hecatine, since the goddess Hecate was the first to use it. Medea mixed this herb into her witch's potion. In the image of Cerberus, teratomorphism is traced, against which heroic mythology is fighting. The name of the vicious dog has become a household name to refer to an overly harsh, incorruptible watchman.

11) Sphinx

The most famous Sphinx in Greek mythology was from Ethiopia and lived in Thebes in Boeotia, as mentioned by the Greek poet Hesiod. It was a monster spawned by Typhon and Echidna, with the face and chest of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. Sent by the Hero to Thebes as a punishment, the Sphinx settled on a mountain near Thebes and asked each passerby a riddle: “Which of the living creatures walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?” Unable to give a clue, the Sphinx killed and thus killed many noble Thebans, including the son of King Creon. Dejected with grief, Creon announced that he would give the kingdom and the hand of his sister Jocasta to the one who would save Thebes from the Sphinx. Oedipus solved the riddle by answering the Sphinx: "Man." The monster in despair threw himself into the abyss and crashed to death. This version of the myth supplanted the older version, in which the original name of the predator that lived in Boeotia on Mount Fikion was Fix, and then Orf and Echidna were named as his parents. The name Sphinx arose from the rapprochement with the verb “compress”, “strangle”, and the image itself - under the influence of the Asia Minor image of a winged half-maiden-half-lion. Ancient Fix was a ferocious monster capable of swallowing prey; he was defeated by Oedipus with weapons in his hands during a fierce battle. Depictions of the Sphinx abound in Classical art, from 18th-century British interiors to Romantic Empire furniture. Freemasons considered sphinxes as a symbol of the mysteries and used them in their architecture, considering them as guardians of the gates of the temple. In Masonic architecture, the sphinx is a frequent decorative detail, for example, even in the version of the image of his head on the form of documents. The Sphinx personifies mystery, wisdom, the idea of ​​a person's struggle with fate.

12) Siren

Demonic creatures born from the god of fresh waters Aheloy and one of the muses: Melpomene or Terpsichore. Sirens, like many mythical creatures, are mixanthropic in nature, they are half-birds-half-women or half-fish-half-women who inherited a wild spontaneity from their father, and a divine voice from their mother. Their number ranges from a few to many. Dangerous maidens lived on the rocks of the island, littered with the bones and dried skin of their victims, whom the sirens lured with their singing. Hearing their sweet singing, the sailors, losing their minds, sent the ship straight to the rocks and eventually died in the depths of the sea. After that, the merciless virgins tore the bodies of the victims to pieces and ate them. According to one of the myths, Orpheus sang sweeter than the sirens on the ship of the Argonauts, and for this reason the sirens, in despair and violent anger, rushed into the sea and were turned into rocks, for they were destined to die when their spells were powerless. The appearance of sirens with wings makes them similar in appearance to harpies, and sirens with fish tails to mermaids. However, sirens, unlike mermaids, are of divine origin. Attractive appearance is also not their obligatory attribute. Sirens were also perceived as muses of another world - they were depicted on tombstones. In classical antiquity, wild chthonic sirens turn into sweet-voiced wise sirens, each of which sits on one of the eight celestial spheres of the world spindle of the goddess Ananke, creating the majestic harmony of the cosmos with their singing. To appease the sea deities and avoid shipwreck, sirens were often depicted as figures on ships. Over time, the image of sirens became so popular that a whole detachment of large marine mammals was called sirens, which includes dugongs, manatees, as well as sea (or Steller's) cows, which, unfortunately, were completely exterminated by the end of the 18th century.

13) Harpy

Daughters of the sea deity Thaumant and the oceanides Electra, archaic pre-Olympic deities. Their names - Aella ("Whirlwind"), Aellope ("Whirlwind"), Podarga ("Swift-footed"), Okipeta ("Fast"), Kelaino ("Gloomy") - indicate a connection with the elements and darkness. The word "harpy" comes from the Greek "grab", "abduct". In ancient myths, harpies were gods of the wind. The proximity of the strashno.com.ua harpies to the winds is reflected in the fact that the divine horses of Achilles were born from Podarga and Zephyr. They interfered little in the affairs of people, their duty was only to carry the souls of the dead to the underworld. But then the harpies began to kidnap children and annoy people, swooping in suddenly, like the wind, and just as suddenly disappearing. In various sources, harpies are described as winged deities with long flowing hair, flying faster than birds and winds, or as vultures with female faces and sharp hooked claws. They are invulnerable and stinking. Eternally tormented by a hunger that they cannot satisfy, the harpies descend from the mountains and, with piercing cries, devour and soil everything. The harpies were sent by the gods as punishment for the people who had been guilty of them. Monsters took away food from a person every time he took food, and this lasted until the person died of hunger. So, the story is known about how the harpies tortured King Phineus, damned for an involuntary crime, and, stealing his food, doomed him to starvation. However, the monsters were expelled by the sons of Boreas - the Argonauts Zet and Kalaid. The heroes of Zeus, their sister, the goddess of the rainbow Irida, prevented the heroes from killing the harpies. The habitat of the harpies was usually called the Strofada Islands in the Aegean Sea, later, along with other monsters, they were placed in the kingdom of gloomy Hades, where they were ranked among the most dangerous local creatures. Medieval moralists used harpies as symbols of greed, gluttony, and uncleanliness, often confusing them with furies. Evil women are also called harpies. The harpy is a large bird of prey from the hawk family that lives in South America.

The brainchild of Typhon and Echidna, the hideous Hydra had a long serpentine body and nine dragon heads. One of the heads was immortal. Hydra was considered invincible, since two new ones grew from a severed head. Coming out of the gloomy Tartarus, the Hydra lived in a swamp near the city of Lerna, where the killers came to atone for their sins. This place became her home. Hence the name - Lernaean Hydra. The hydra was eternally hungry and devastated the surroundings, eating herds and burning crops with its fiery breath. Her body was thicker than the thickest tree and covered with shiny scales. When she rose on her tail, she could be seen far above the forests. King Eurystheus sent Hercules on a mission to kill the Lernean Hydra. Iolaus, the nephew of Hercules, during the battle of the hero with the Hydra, burned her neck with fire, from which Hercules knocked down his heads with his club. Hydra stopped growing new heads, and soon she had only one immortal head. In the end, she was demolished with a club and buried by Hercules under a huge rock. Then the hero cut Hydra's body and plunged his arrows into her poisonous blood. Since then, the wounds from his arrows have become incurable. However, this feat of the hero was not recognized by Eurystheus, since Hercules was helped by his nephew. The name Hydra is given to Pluto's satellite and the constellation in the southern hemisphere of the sky, the longest of all. The unusual properties of Hydra also gave their name to the genus of freshwater sessile coelenterates. A hydra is a person with an aggressive character and a predatory demeanor.

15) Stymphalian birds

Birds of prey with sharp bronze feathers, copper claws and beaks. Named after Lake Stimfal near the city of the same name in the mountains of Arcadia. Having multiplied with extraordinary speed, they turned into a huge flock and soon turned all the surroundings of the city almost into a desert: they destroyed the entire crop of the fields, exterminated the animals that grazed on the fat shores of the lake, and killed many shepherds and farmers. Taking off, the Stymphalian birds dropped their feathers like arrows, and struck with them all who were in the open area, or tore them apart with copper claws and beaks. Upon learning of this misfortune of the Arcadians, Eurystheus sent Hercules to them, hoping that this time he would not be able to escape. Athena helped the hero by giving him copper rattles or timpani forged by Hephaestus. Alarming the birds with noise, Hercules began to shoot at them with his arrows poisoned by the poison of the Lernaean Hydra. Frightened birds left the shores of the lake, flying to the islands of the Black Sea. There the Stymphalidae were met by the Argonauts. They probably heard about the feat of Hercules and followed his example - they drove the birds away with a noise, hitting the shields with swords.

Forest deities who made up the retinue of the god Dionysus. Satyrs are shaggy and bearded, their legs end in goat (sometimes horse) hooves. Other characteristic features of the appearance of satyrs are horns on the head, a goat or bull tail and a human torso. Satyrs were endowed with the qualities of wild creatures with animal qualities, who thought little about human prohibitions and moral standards. In addition, they were distinguished by fantastic endurance, both in battle and at the festive table. A great passion was dancing and music, the flute is one of the main attributes of satyrs. Also, thyrsus, flute, leather bellows or vessels with wine were considered attributes of satyrs. Satyrs were often depicted on the canvases of great artists. Often the satyrs were accompanied by girls, for whom the satyrs had a certain weakness. According to a rationalistic interpretation, a tribe of shepherds who lived in forests and mountains could be reflected in the image of a satyr. A satyr is sometimes called a lover of alcohol, humor and sorority. The image of a satyr resembles a European devil.

17) Phoenix

Magic bird with golden and red feathers. In it you can see the collective image of many birds - an eagle, a crane, a peacock and many others. The most striking qualities of the Phoenix were the extraordinary life expectancy and the ability to be reborn from the ashes after self-immolation. There are several versions of the Phoenix myth. In the classical version, once every five hundred years, the Phoenix, bearing the sorrows of people, flies from India to the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis, Libya. The head priest kindles a fire from the sacred vine, and the Phoenix throws itself into the fire. Its incense-soaked wings flare and it quickly burns. With this feat, Phoenix returns happiness and harmony to the world of people with its life and beauty. Having experienced torment and pain, three days later a new Phoenix grows from the ashes, which, having thanked the priest for the work done, returns to India, even more beautiful and shining with new colors. Experiencing cycles of birth, progress, death and renewal, Phoenix strives to become more and more perfect over and over again. Phoenix was the personification of the most ancient human desire for immortality. Even in the ancient world, the Phoenix began to be depicted on coins and seals, in heraldry and sculpture. The Phoenix has become a beloved symbol of light, rebirth and truth in poetry and prose. In honor of the Phoenix, the constellation of the southern hemisphere and the date palm were named.

18) Scylla and Charybdis

Scylla, the daughter of Echidna or Hecate, once a beautiful nymph, rejected everyone, including the sea god Glaucus, who asked for help from the sorceress Circe. But out of revenge, Circe, who was in love with Glaucus, turned Scylla into a monster, which began to lie in wait for sailors in a cave, on a steep rock of the narrow Strait of Sicily, on the other side of which lived another monster - Charybdis. Scylla has six dog heads on six necks, three rows of teeth and twelve legs. In translation, her name means "barking". Charybdis was the daughter of the gods Poseidon and Gaia. She was turned into a terrible monster by Zeus himself, while dropping into the sea. Charybdis has a gigantic mouth into which water flows non-stop. She personifies a terrible whirlpool, the yawning deep of the sea, which arises three times in one day and absorbs and then spews water. No one has seen her, as she is hidden by the water column. That is how she ruined many sailors. Only Odysseus and the Argonauts managed to swim past Scylla and Charybdis. In the Adriatic Sea you can find the Scylleian rock. According to local legends, it was on it that Scylla lived. There is also a shrimp with the same name. The expression "to be between Scylla and Charybdis" means to be in danger from different sides at the same time.

19) Hippocampus

A marine animal that looks like a horse and ends in a fish tail, also called hydrippus - a water horse. According to other versions of the myths, the hippocampus is a sea creature in the form of a seahorse with the legs of a horse and a body ending in a snake or fish tail and webbed feet instead of hooves on the front legs. The front of the body is covered with thin scales in contrast to the large scales on the back of the body. According to some sources, lungs are used for breathing by the hippocampus, according to others, modified gills. Sea deities - nereids and tritons - were often depicted on chariots harnessed by hippocampuses, or seated on hippocampuses dissecting the abyss of water. This amazing horse appears in the poems of Homer as a symbol of Poseidon, whose chariot was drawn by fast horses and glided over the surface of the sea. In mosaic art, the hippocampus was often depicted as a hybrid animal with a green, scaly mane and appendages. The ancients believed that these animals were already the adult form of the seahorse. Other fish-tailed land animals that appear in Greek myth include the leocampus, a lion with a fish tail), the taurocampus, a bull with a fish tail, the pardalocampus, a fish-tailed leopard, and the aegikampus, a goat with a fish tail. The latter became a symbol of the constellation Capricorn.

20) Cyclops (Cyclops)

Cyclopes in the 8th-7th centuries BC. e. were considered a product of Uranus and Gaia, the titans. Three immortal one-eyed giants with eyes in the form of a ball belonged to the Cyclopes: Arg (“flash”), Bront (“thunder”) and Sterop (“lightning”). Immediately after the birth, the Cyclopes were thrown by Uranus into Tartarus (the deepest abyss) along with their violent hundred-handed brothers (hekatoncheirs), who were born shortly before them. The Cyclopes were freed by the rest of the Titans after the overthrow of Uranus, and then again thrown into Tartarus by their leader Kronos. When Zeus, the leader of the Olympians, began a struggle with Kronos for power, he, on the advice of their mother Gaia, freed the Cyclopes from Tartarus to help the Olympian gods in the war against the titans, known as gigantomachy. Zeus used lightning bolts made by the Cyclopes and thunder arrows, which he threw at the titans. In addition, the Cyclopes, being skilled blacksmiths, forged a trident and a manger for Poseidon for his horses, Hades - an invisibility helmet, Artemis - a silver bow and arrows, and also taught Athena and Hephaestus various crafts. After the end of the Gigantomachy, the Cyclopes continued to serve Zeus and forge weapons for him. As henchmen of Hephaestus, forging iron in the bowels of Etna, the Cyclopes forged the chariot of Ares, the aegis of Pallas and the armor of Aeneas. The mythical people of one-eyed cannibal giants who inhabited the islands of the Mediterranean Sea were also called Cyclopes. Among them, the most famous is the ferocious son of Poseidon, Polyphemus, whom Odysseus deprived of his only eye. Paleontologist Otenio Abel suggested in 1914 that ancient finds of pygmy elephant skulls gave rise to the myth of the Cyclopes, since the central nasal opening in the elephant's skull could be mistaken for a giant eye socket. The remains of these elephants have been found on the islands of Cyprus, Malta, Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, the Cyclades and the Dodecanese.

21) Minotaur

Half-bull-half-human, born as the fruit of the passion of the queen of Crete Pasiphae for a white bull, love for which Aphrodite inspired her as a punishment. The real name of the Minotaur was Asterius (that is, "star"), and the nickname Minotaur means "the bull of Minos." Subsequently, the inventor Daedalus, the creator of many devices, built a labyrinth in order to imprison her monster son in it. According to ancient Greek myths, the Minotaur ate human flesh, and in order to feed him, the king of Crete imposed a terrible tribute on the city of Athens - seven young men and seven girls had to be sent to Crete every nine years to be eaten by the Minotaur. When Theseus, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus, fell to the lot to become a victim of an insatiable monster, he decided to rid his homeland of such a duty. Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae, in love with the young man, gave him a magic thread so that he could find his way back from the labyrinth, and the hero managed not only to kill the monster, but also to free the rest of the captives and put an end to the terrible tribute. The myth of the Minotaur was probably an echo of the ancient pre-Hellenic bull cults with their characteristic sacred bullfights. Judging by the wall paintings, bull-headed human figures were common in Cretan demonology. In addition, the image of a bull appears on Minoan coins and seals. The minotaur is considered a symbol of anger and bestial savagery. The phrase "Ariadne's thread" means a way to get out of a difficult situation, to find the key to solving a difficult problem, to understand a difficult situation.

22) Hecatoncheires

Hundred-armed fifty-headed giants named Briares (Egeon), Kott and Gyes (Gius) personify the underground forces, the sons of the supreme god Uranus, the symbol of Heaven, and Gaia-Earth. Immediately after their birth, the brothers were imprisoned in the bowels of the earth by their father, who feared for his dominion. In the midst of the fight against the Titans, the gods of Olympus called on the Hecatoncheirs, and their help ensured the victory of the Olympians. After their defeat, the titans were thrown into Tartarus, and the hekatoncheirs volunteered to guard them. Poseidon, the lord of the seas, gave Briareus his daughter Kimopolis as his wife. Hecatoncheirs are present in the book by the Strugatsky brothers "Monday begins on Saturday" as loaders at the Research Institute of FAQ.

23) Giants

The sons of Gaia, who were born from the blood of castrated Uranus, absorbed into the Earth-mother. According to another version, Gaia gave birth to them from Uranus after the titans were cast down by Zeus into Tartarus. The pre-Greek origin of the Giants is obvious. The story of the birth of the Giants and their death is told in detail by Apollodorus. The giants inspired horror with their appearance - thick hair and beards; their lower body was serpentine or octopus-like. They were born on the Phlegrean Fields in Halkidiki, in northern Greece. In the same place, then the battle of the Olympic gods with the Giants took place - gigantomachy. Giants, unlike titans, are mortal. By the will of fate, their death depended on the participation in the battle of mortal heroes who would come to the aid of the gods. Gaia was looking for a magical herb that would keep the Giants alive. But Zeus was ahead of Gaia and, having sent darkness to the earth, cut this grass himself. On the advice of Athena, Zeus called for Hercules to participate in the battle. In the Gigantomachy, the Olympians destroyed the Giants. Apollodorus mentions the names of 13 Giants, of which there are generally up to 150. Gigantomachy (like titanomachy) is based on the idea of ​​ordering the world, embodied in the victory of the Olympic generation of gods over chthonic forces, strengthening the supreme power of Zeus.

This monstrous serpent, born of Gaia and Tartarus, guarded the sanctuary of the goddesses Gaia and Themis in Delphi, at the same time devastating their surroundings. Therefore, it was also called Dolphin. By order of the goddess Hera, Python raised an even more terrible monster - Typhon, and then began to pursue Laton, the mother of Apollo and Artemis. The grown-up Apollo, having received a bow and arrows forged by Hephaestus, went in search of a monster and overtook him in a deep cave. Apollo killed Python with his arrows and had to remain in exile for eight years in order to appease the angry Gaia. The huge dragon was periodically mentioned in Delphi during various sacred rites and processions. Apollo founded a temple on the site of an ancient soothsayer and established the Pythian games; this myth reflected the replacement of chthonic archaism by a new, Olympian deity. The plot, where a luminous deity kills a snake, a symbol of evil and an enemy of mankind, has become a classic for religious teachings and folk tales. The Temple of Apollo at Delphi became famous throughout Hellas and even beyond its borders. From a crevice in the rock, located in the middle of the temple, vapors rose, which had a strong effect on the consciousness and behavior of a person. The priestesses of the temple of the Pythia gave often confusing and vague predictions. From Python came the name of a whole family of non-poisonous snakes - pythons, sometimes reaching up to 10 meters in length.

25) Centaur

These legendary creatures with a human torso and a horse's torso and legs are the embodiment of natural strength, endurance, cruelty and unbridled disposition. Centaurs (translated from Greek as “killing bulls”) drove the chariot of Dionysus, the god of wine and winemaking; they were also ridden by the god of love, Eros, which implied their propensity for libations and unbridled passions. There are several legends about the origin of centaurs. A descendant of Apollo named Centaur entered into a relationship with the Magnesian mares, which gave the appearance of a half-man, half-horse to all subsequent generations. According to another myth, in the pre-Olympic era, the smartest of the centaurs, Chiron, appeared. His parents were the oceanid Felira and the god Kron. Kron took the form of a horse, so the child from this marriage combined the features of a horse and a man. Chiron received an excellent education (medicine, hunting, gymnastics, music, divination) directly from Apollo and Artemis and was a mentor to many heroes of the Greek epics, as well as a personal friend of Hercules. His descendants, the centaurs, lived in the mountains of Thessaly, next to the Lapiths. These wild tribes coexisted peacefully with each other until, at the wedding of the king of the Lapiths, Pirithous, the centaurs tried to kidnap the bride and several beautiful Lapithians. In a violent battle, called centauromachia, the Lapiths won, and the centaurs were scattered across mainland Greece, driven into mountainous regions and deaf caves. The appearance of the image of a centaur more than three thousand years ago suggests that even then the horse played an important role in human life. Perhaps the ancient farmers perceived horse riders as an integral being, but, most likely, the inhabitants of the Mediterranean, prone to inventing "composite" creatures, having invented the centaur, thus simply reflected the spread of the horse. The Greeks, who bred and loved horses, were well acquainted with their temper. It is no coincidence that it was the nature of the horse that they associated with the unpredictable manifestations of violence in this generally positive animal. One of the constellations and signs of the zodiac is dedicated to the centaur. To refer to creatures that do not look like a horse, but retain the features of a centaur, the term "centauroids" is used in the scientific literature. There are variations in the appearance of centaurs. Onocentaur - half man, half donkey - was associated with a demon, Satan or a hypocritical person. The image is close to satyrs and European devils, as well as to the Egyptian god Seth.

The son of Gaia, nicknamed Panoptes, that is, the all-seeing, who became the personification of the starry sky. The goddess Hera forced him to guard Io, the beloved of her husband Zeus, who was turned into a cow by him in order to protect him from the wrath of his jealous wife. Hera begged a cow from Zeus and assigned to her an ideal caretaker, the hundred-eyed Argus, who vigilantly guarded her: only two of his eyes closed at the same time, the others were open and vigilantly watched Io. Only Hermes, the crafty and enterprising herald of the gods, managed to kill him, freeing Io. Hermes put Argus to sleep with a poppy and cut off his head with one blow. The name of Argus has become a household name for the vigilant, vigilant, all-seeing guardian, from whom no one and nothing can hide. Sometimes this is called, following an ancient legend, a pattern on peacock feathers, the so-called "peacock eye". According to legend, when Argus died at the hands of Hermes, Hera, regretting his death, collected all his eyes and attached them to the tails of her favorite birds, peacocks, which were supposed to always remind her of her devoted servant. The myth of Argus was often depicted on vases and on Pompeian wall paintings.

27) Griffin

Monstrous birds with a lion's body and an eagle's head and front paws. From their cry, flowers wither and grass withers, and all living beings fall dead. The eyes of a griffin with a golden tint. The head was the size of a wolf's head with a huge, intimidating beak, wings with a strange second joint to make it easier to fold them. The griffin in Greek mythology personified insightful and vigilant power. Closely associated with the god Apollo, appears as an animal that the god harnesses to his chariot. Some of the myths say that these creatures were harnessed to the cart of the goddess Nemesis, which symbolizes the speed of retribution for sins. In addition, the griffins rotated the wheel of fate, and were genetically related to Nemesis. The image of the griffin personified dominance over the elements of earth (lion) and air (eagle). The symbolism of this mythical animal is associated with the image of the Sun, since both the lion and the eagle in myths are always inextricably linked with it. In addition, the lion and eagle are associated with mythological motifs of speed and courage. The functional purpose of the griffin is protection, in this it is similar to the image of a dragon. As a rule, guards treasures or some secret knowledge. The bird served as an intermediary between the heavenly and earthly worlds, gods and people. Even then, ambivalence was embedded in the image of the griffin. Their role in various myths is ambiguous. They can act both as defenders, patrons, and as vicious, unrestrained animals. The Greeks believed that griffins guard the gold of the Scythians in northern Asia. Modern attempts to localize griffins vary greatly and place them from the northern Urals to the Altai Mountains. These mythological animals are widely represented in antiquity: Herodotus wrote about them, their images were found on the monuments of the period of prehistoric Crete and in Sparta - on weapons, household items, on coins and buildings.

28) Empusa

A female demon of the underworld from the retinue of Hekate. Empusa was a nocturnal vampire with donkey legs, one of which was copper. She took the form of cows, dogs or beautiful maidens, changing her appearance in a thousand ways. According to popular beliefs, the empusa often carried away small children, sucked blood from beautiful young men, appearing to them in the form of a lovely woman, and, having had enough of blood, often ate their meat. At night, on deserted roads, the empusa lay in wait for lone travelers, either frightening them in the form of an animal or a ghost, then captivating them with the appearance of a beauty, then attacking them in their true terrible appearance. According to popular beliefs, it was possible to drive away the empusa with abuse or a special amulet. In some sources, the empusa is described as close to the lamia, onocentaur, or female satyr.

29) Triton

The son of Poseidon and the mistress of the seas Amphitrite, depicted as an old man or a young man with a fish tail instead of legs. Triton became the ancestor of all newts - marine mixanthropic creatures frolicking in the waters, accompanying Poseidon's chariot. This retinue of lower sea deities was depicted as a half-fish and half-man blowing a snail-shaped shell to excite or tame the sea. In their appearance, they resembled classic mermaids. Tritons in the sea became, like satyrs and centaurs on land, minor deities serving the main gods. In honor of the tritons are named: in astronomy - a satellite of the planet Neptune; in biology - the genus of tailed amphibians of the salamander family and the genus of prone gill mollusks; in technology - a series of ultra-small submarines of the USSR Navy; in music, an interval formed by three tones.

Elena Vladimirovna Dobrova

Popular history of mythology

INTRODUCTION WHAT IS MYTH AND MYTHOLOGY?

We are familiar with the myths and legends of ancient peoples from school. Every child rereads these ancient tales with pleasure, telling about the life of the gods, the wonderful adventures of heroes, the origin of heaven and earth, the sun and stars, animals and birds, forests and mountains, rivers and seas, and, finally, the man himself. For people living today, myths really seem like fairy tales, and we don’t even think about the fact that many millennia ago their creators believed in the absolute truth and reality of these events. It is no coincidence that the researcher M. I. Steblin-Kamensky defines a myth as “a narrative that, where it arose and existed, was taken for truth, no matter how implausible it may be.”

The traditional definition of myth belongs to I. M. Dyakonov. In a broad sense, myths are primarily “ancient, biblical and other ancient tales about the creation of the world and man, as well as stories of gods and heroes – poetic, sometimes bizarre.” The reason for this interpretation is quite understandable: it was the ancient myths that were included in the circle of knowledge of Europeans much earlier than others. And the word "myth" itself is of Greek origin and translated into Russian means "tradition" or "tale".

Ancient myths are highly artistic literary monuments that have survived to this day almost unchanged. The names of Greek and Roman gods and stories about them became especially widely known in the Renaissance (XV-XVI centuries). Around the same time, the first information about Arab myths and the myths of the American Indians began to penetrate into Europe. In an educated society, it became fashionable to use the names of ancient gods and heroes in an allegorical sense: under Venus they meant love, under Minerva - wisdom, Mars was the personification of war, the muses denoted various arts and sciences. Such word usage has survived to this day, in particular in the poetic language, which has absorbed many mythological images.

In the first half of the 19th century, the myths of such Indo-European peoples as the ancient Indians, Iranians, Germans and Slavs were introduced into scientific circulation. A little later, the myths of the peoples of Africa, Oceania and Australia were discovered, which allowed scientists to conclude that mythology existed among almost all the peoples of the world at a certain stage of their historical development. The study of the main world religions - Christianity, Islam and Buddhism - showed that they also have a mythological basis.

In the 19th century, literary adaptations of myths of all times and peoples were created, many scientific books were written on the mythology of different countries of the world, as well as on the comparative historical study of myths. In the course of this work, not only narrative literary sources were used, which were the result of a later development of the original mythology, but also data from linguistics, ethnography and other sciences.

Not only folklorists and literary critics were interested in the study of mythology. Myths have long attracted the attention of religious scholars, philosophers, linguists, cultural historians and other scientists. This is explained by the fact that myths are not just naive tales of the ancients, they contain the historical memory of peoples, they are imbued with a deep philosophical meaning. In addition, myths are a source of knowledge. No wonder the plots of many of them are called eternal, because they are consonant with any era, they are interesting to people of all ages. Myths are able to satisfy not only children's curiosity, but also the desire of an adult to join the universal wisdom.

What is mythology? On the one hand, this is a collection of myths that tell about the deeds of gods, heroes, demons, spirits, etc., which reflect the fantastic ideas of people about the world, nature and man. On the other hand, it is a science that studies the origin, content, distribution of myths, their relationship with other genres of folk art, religious beliefs and rituals, history, fine arts, and many other aspects related to the nature and essence of myths.

DEVELOPMENT OF MYTHOLOGICAL REPRESENTATIONS

Myth-making is the most important phenomenon in the cultural history of mankind. In primitive society, mythology was the main way of understanding the world. At the earliest stages of development, during the period of the tribal community, when, in fact, myths appeared, people sought to comprehend the reality around them, but they still could not give a real explanation for many natural phenomena, therefore they composed myths, which are considered the earliest form of world perception and understanding by primitive man of the world and of himself.

Since mythology is a kind of system of man's fantastic ideas about the natural and social reality surrounding him, the reason for the emergence of myths, in other words, the answer to the question why the worldview of primitive people was expressed in the form of myth-making, should be sought in the peculiarities of thinking characteristic of the level that had developed by that time. cultural and historical development.

The perception of the world by primitive man was of a directly sensual nature. When designating the word of one or another phenomenon of the surrounding world, for example, fire as an element, a person did not differentiate it into a fire in the hearth, a forest fire, a furnace flame, etc. Thus, the emerging mythological thinking strove for a certain kind of generalizations and was based on a holistic , or syncretic, perception of the world.

Mythological ideas were formed because the primitive man perceived himself as an integral part of the surrounding nature, and his thinking was closely connected with the emotional and affective-motor spheres. The consequence of this was the naive humanization of the natural environment, i.e. universal personification And "metaphorical" comparison of natural and social objects.

People endowed natural phenomena with human qualities. Forces, properties and fragments of the cosmos in myths are presented as concrete-sensual animated images. The cosmos itself often appears in the form of a living giant, from the parts of which the world was created. Totemic ancestors usually had a dual nature - zoomorphic and anthropomorphic. Diseases were presented in the form of monsters that devoured human souls, strength was expressed by multi-armedness, and good eyesight was expressed by the presence of a large number of eyes. All gods, spirits and heroes, like people, were included in certain family and clan relations.

The process of understanding each natural phenomenon was directly influenced by specific natural, economic and historical conditions, as well as the level of social development. In addition, some mythological subjects were borrowed from the mythologies of other peoples. This happened in the event that the borrowed myth corresponded to worldview ideas, specific living conditions and the level of social development of the perceiving people.

The most important distinguishing feature of myth is its symbolism, which consists in a fuzzy separation of subject and object, object and sign, thing and word, being and its name, thing and its attributes, singular and plural, spatial and temporal relations, origin and essence. In addition, myths are characterized geneticism. In mythology, to explain the device of a thing means to tell how it was created, to describe the world around it means to tell about its origin. The state of the modern world (the relief of the earth's surface, celestial bodies, existing breeds of animals and plant species, the way of life of people, established social relations, religions) in myths is considered as a consequence of the events of bygone days, the time when mythical heroes, ancestors or gods lived. creators.

All mythological events are separated from us by a large time interval: actions in most myths take place in ancient, initial times.

mythical time- this is the time when the world was arranged differently than it is now. This is an early, initial time, a pre-time that preceded the empirical, that is, historical, time. This is the era of first creation, first objects and first actions, when the first spear, fire appear, the first actions are performed, etc. All phenomena and events related to mythical time acquired the meaning of a paradigm (translated from Greek - “example”, “image”) , therefore, were perceived as a model for reproduction. In myth, two aspects are usually combined - diachronic, that is, a story about the past, and synchronic, or a means of explaining the present, and in some cases the future.

INTRODUCTION WHAT IS MYTH AND MYTHOLOGY?

We are familiar with the myths and legends of ancient peoples from school. Every child rereads these ancient tales with pleasure, telling about the life of the gods, the wonderful adventures of heroes, the origin of heaven and earth, the sun and stars, animals and birds, forests and mountains, rivers and seas, and, finally, the man himself. For people living today, myths really seem like fairy tales, and we don’t even think about the fact that many millennia ago their creators believed in the absolute truth and reality of these events. It is no coincidence that the researcher M. I. Steblin-Kamensky defines a myth as “a narrative that, where it arose and existed, was taken for truth, no matter how implausible it may be.”

The traditional definition of myth belongs to I. M. Dyakonov. In a broad sense, myths are primarily “ancient, biblical and other ancient tales about the creation of the world and man, as well as stories of gods and heroes – poetic, sometimes bizarre.” The reason for this interpretation is quite understandable: it was the ancient myths that were included in the circle of knowledge of Europeans much earlier than others. And the word "myth" itself is of Greek origin and translated into Russian means "tradition" or "tale".

Ancient myths are highly artistic literary monuments that have survived to this day almost unchanged. The names of Greek and Roman gods and stories about them became especially widely known in the Renaissance (XV-XVI centuries). Around the same time, the first information about Arab myths and the myths of the American Indians began to penetrate into Europe. In an educated society, it became fashionable to use the names of ancient gods and heroes in an allegorical sense: under Venus they meant love, under Minerva - wisdom, Mars was the personification of war, the muses denoted various arts and sciences. Such word usage has survived to this day, in particular in the poetic language, which has absorbed many mythological images.

In the first half of the 19th century, the myths of such Indo-European peoples as the ancient Indians, Iranians, Germans and Slavs were introduced into scientific circulation. A little later, the myths of the peoples of Africa, Oceania and Australia were discovered, which allowed scientists to conclude that mythology existed among almost all the peoples of the world at a certain stage of their historical development. The study of the main world religions - Christianity, Islam and Buddhism - showed that they also have a mythological basis.

In the 19th century, literary adaptations of myths of all times and peoples were created, many scientific books were written on the mythology of different countries of the world, as well as on the comparative historical study of myths. In the course of this work, not only narrative literary sources were used, which were the result of a later development of the original mythology, but also data from linguistics, ethnography and other sciences.

Not only folklorists and literary critics were interested in the study of mythology. Myths have long attracted the attention of religious scholars, philosophers, linguists, cultural historians and other scientists. This is explained by the fact that myths are not just naive tales of the ancients, they contain the historical memory of peoples, they are imbued with a deep philosophical meaning. In addition, myths are a source of knowledge. No wonder the plots of many of them are called eternal, because they are consonant with any era, they are interesting to people of all ages. Myths are able to satisfy not only children's curiosity, but also the desire of an adult to join the universal wisdom.

What is mythology? On the one hand, this is a collection of myths that tell about the deeds of gods, heroes, demons, spirits, etc., which reflect the fantastic ideas of people about the world, nature and man. On the other hand, it is a science that studies the origin, content, distribution of myths, their relationship with other genres of folk art, religious beliefs and rituals, history, fine arts, and many other aspects related to the nature and essence of myths.

DEVELOPMENT OF MYTHOLOGICAL REPRESENTATIONS

Myth-making is the most important phenomenon in the cultural history of mankind. In primitive society, mythology was the main way of understanding the world. At the earliest stages of development, during the period of the tribal community, when, in fact, myths appeared, people sought to comprehend the reality around them, but they still could not give a real explanation for many natural phenomena, therefore they composed myths, which are considered the earliest form of world perception and understanding by primitive man of the world and of himself.

Since mythology is a kind of system of man's fantastic ideas about the natural and social reality surrounding him, the reason for the emergence of myths, in other words, the answer to the question why the worldview of primitive people was expressed in the form of myth-making, should be sought in the peculiarities of thinking characteristic of the level that had developed by that time. cultural and historical development.

The perception of the world by primitive man was of a directly sensual nature. When designating the word of one or another phenomenon of the surrounding world, for example, fire as an element, a person did not differentiate it into a fire in the hearth, a forest fire, a furnace flame, etc. Thus, the emerging mythological thinking strove for a certain kind of generalizations and was based on a holistic , or syncretic, perception of the world.

Mythological ideas were formed because the primitive man perceived himself as an integral part of the surrounding nature, and his thinking was closely connected with the emotional and affective-motor spheres. The consequence of this was the naive humanization of the natural environment, i.e. universal personification And "metaphorical" comparison of natural and social objects.

People endowed natural phenomena with human qualities. Forces, properties and fragments of the cosmos in myths are presented as concrete-sensual animated images. The cosmos itself often appears in the form of a living giant, from the parts of which the world was created. Totemic ancestors usually had a dual nature - zoomorphic and anthropomorphic. Diseases were presented in the form of monsters that devoured human souls, strength was expressed by multi-armedness, and good eyesight was expressed by the presence of a large number of eyes. All gods, spirits and heroes, like people, were included in certain family and clan relations.

The process of understanding each natural phenomenon was directly influenced by specific natural, economic and historical conditions, as well as the level of social development. In addition, some mythological subjects were borrowed from the mythologies of other peoples. This happened in the event that the borrowed myth corresponded to worldview ideas, specific living conditions and the level of social development of the perceiving people.

The most important distinguishing feature of myth is its symbolism, which consists in a fuzzy separation of subject and object, object and sign, thing and word, being and its name, thing and its attributes, singular and plural, spatial and temporal relations, origin and essence. In addition, myths are characterized geneticism. In mythology, to explain the device of a thing means to tell how it was created, to describe the world around it means to tell about its origin. The state of the modern world (the relief of the earth's surface, celestial bodies, existing breeds of animals and plant species, the way of life of people, established social relations, religions) in myths is considered as a consequence of the events of bygone days, the time when mythical heroes, ancestors or gods lived. creators.

All mythological events are separated from us by a large time interval: actions in most myths take place in ancient, initial times.

mythical time- this is the time when the world was arranged differently than it is now. This is an early, initial time, a pre-time that preceded the empirical, that is, historical, time. This is the era of first creation, first objects and first actions, when the first spear, fire appear, the first actions are performed, etc. All phenomena and events related to mythical time acquired the meaning of a paradigm (translated from Greek - “example”, “image”) , therefore, were perceived as a model for reproduction. In myth, two aspects are usually combined - diachronic, that is, a story about the past, and synchronic, or a means of explaining the present, and in some cases the future.

The events described in the myths were not classified by primitive people as supernatural. For them, myths were absolutely real, because they were the result of comprehension of reality by many previous generations. In other words, the myths contained the wisdom of the ancestors, a tradition that had existed for centuries. On the basis of this, an indisputable belief in their plausibility arose.

A sharp distinction between mythological (sacred) and modern (profane) time is characteristic of the most primitive, archaic mythological systems, but modified ideas about a special initial era are preserved in higher mythologies. In them, the mythical time can be characterized as a golden age or, conversely, as an era of chaos, which is subject to ordering by the forces of the cosmos. The mythological initial times are preserved as a background in the archaic epic (“Kalevala”, “Edda”, Yakut and Buryat heroic poems).

The mythical model "initial time - empirical time" is linear in nature. Gradually, it develops into another model - a cyclic one. This transition is due to the ritual repetition of the events of mythical time, as well as calendar rites and the development of ideas about dying and resurrecting gods, the eternal renewal of nature, etc. The cyclical model of time corresponds to myths about the successive change of world epochs. Such are the "mahayugas" in India; the Hesiodian change of five centuries with the possibility of a return in the future of the golden age; a cycle of epochs, each of which ends with a world catastrophe, in the pre-Columbian mythologies of America, etc.

Another essential feature of mythological thinking is etiology. Many myths explain the causes of any real phenomena occurring in the human environment. As you know, mythological ideas about the structure of the world are expressed in stories about the origin of its various elements, therefore, etiologism is closely connected with the very specifics of the myth. In addition, in the most archaic mythologies, for example, among the Australian aborigines, there are many actually etiological myths, which are short stories that explain certain features of animals, the origin of any relief features, etc.

So, the inability to establish differences between the real and the supernatural, the insufficient development of abstract concepts in the mind of primitive man, the sensual-concrete nature of images, metaphor and emotionality - all these and other features of primitive thinking contributed to the transformation of mythology into a very peculiar symbolic (sign) system. Through its terminology, images and concepts, the ancients perceived and described the world around them.

Often mythology mistakenly identified with religion. The question of the relationship between these two concepts is one of the most difficult and does not have an unambiguous solution in science. There is no doubt that the concept of mythology is much broader than the concept of religion, since it includes not only stories about the gods, but also legends about the origin of the cosmos, myths about heroes, legends about the formation and death of cities, and much more. Mythology is a whole system of primitive worldview, which includes not only the rudiments of religion, but also elements of philosophy, political theories, pre-scientific ideas about the world, and also, due to its figurativeness and metaphor, various forms of art, primarily verbal.

Until now, scientists have not come to a unified answer to the question of relationship between myth and ritual(religious ritual). It has long been known that many myths served as an explanation of religious rites. These are the so-called cult myths. The person who performed the rite reproduced in their faces the events that were told in the myth, so the mythical narration turned into a kind of libretto of the dramatic action being performed.

A vivid example of cult myths is the sacred myths, the narration of which was accompanied by the ancient Greek Eleusinian mysteries. Myths about Demeter and her daughter Kore, about the abduction of Kore by the ruler of the underworld Pluto and her return to earth explained the dramatic events taking place.

There is no doubt that if not all, then most of the religious rites were accompanied by cult myths. However, the question of whether the rite was created on the basis of a myth or the myth was composed to substantiate the rite is still debatable. Many facts from the religion of different peoples testify to the primacy of the rite, which at all times has been the most stable part of religion. The mythological representations associated with it were often replaced by new ones, while the original meaning of the rite was lost. Some religious performances, on the contrary, were formed on the basis of some kind of legend and acted as if it were staged.

Thus, in ancient cultures, myth and ritual developed in close relationship and constituted a single ideological and structural whole. They were two aspects of primitive culture - "theoretical" or verbal, and "practical". This approach to this problem brings some clarification to the definition of mythology. Although mythology is a collection of stories that fantastically depict reality, and myth in the literal sense of the word is a narrative, it cannot be attributed to the genres of literature. More precisely, the myth reflects a certain idea of ​​the world, which only takes the form of a story. The mythological worldview can also be expressed in other forms - action (rite), dance, song, etc.

Myths are, as it were, the sacred spiritual treasure of the tribe, since they are associated with cherished traditions that have existed since time immemorial, they affirm the value system established in society and contribute to the maintenance of certain norms of behavior. A myth, especially a cult one, acts as a rationale for the order existing in society and the world.

The cult myth has always been considered sacred, therefore it was surrounded by deep mystery and was the property of those who were initiated into the corresponding religious ritual. The cult myths were esoteric, i.e., the inward-facing category of myths. In addition, religious mythology included another, exoteric, or outward-facing, category of myths that were invented specifically for the purpose of intimidating the uninitiated, especially children and women.

Esoteric and exoteric myths were associated with a certain social phenomenon, which was accompanied by a corresponding ritual. For example, when young men were transferred to the class of men, an age-related initiatory rite was performed - the initiates were told myths, the content of which they had not known before. On the basis of the initiation rites themselves, specific mythological ideas arose, for example, an image of a spirit appeared, which was considered the founder and patron of age-related initiations.

The splitting of religious-mythological images into esoteric and exoteric is characteristic of some tribal cults and ancient national religions. In modern world religions, the difference between these two categories of myths practically disappears, since religious mythological ideas, having turned into religious dogmas, become a necessary and obligatory object of faith for all.

When considering the question of the relationship between religion and mythology, it should be taken into account that the role of religion in primitive society differs to a large extent from its role in class society. Under the conditions of the development of the latter, mythology has undergone a significant change.

Due to the mixing of mythological plots and motifs, the characters of myths (gods, demigods, heroes, demons, etc.) entered into complex relationships with each other - family, marital, hierarchical. As a result, whole genealogies of gods appeared, the images of which were not previously connected with each other. A characteristic example of a polytheistic pantheon is the complex pantheon of the great and small gods of Polynesia and Ancient India.

The same phenomenon can be traced in the development of the mythology of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia. In the German-Scandinavian mythology, a pantheon of aesir gods developed, subjugating another group - the Vanir gods. In Greek mythology, the great gods of various origins formed a hierarchical row, headed by the "father of gods and people" Zeus, and settled down on the peaks and slopes of the Thessalian Olympus.

The division of society into classes led to the stratification of mythology. In Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome, mythological tales and poems appeared about gods and heroes who were allegedly the ancestors of aristocratic families. The priests developed their own mythological plots. aristocratic And priestly mythology formed higher mythology.

In the beliefs of the masses, the so-called lower mythology, which is based on ideas about different spirits of nature - forest, mountain, river, sea, associated with agriculture, land fertility and vegetation.

The most stable, despite its rudeness and spontaneity, was precisely the lower mythology, the images of which have survived to this day in the works of folklore and beliefs of many European peoples. The ideas about the great gods, characteristic of higher mythology, existing among the ancient Celts, Germans and Slavs, almost completely disappeared from the people's memory and only partially merged with the images of Christian saints.

Mythology has played a large role in the development of various forms of ideology. It became the source material for the formation of philosophy, scientific ideas and literature. This is why the question of delimitation arises in science myths and close to them in terms of genre and time of creation of forms of verbal creativity - fairy tales, heroic epic, legends And historical traditions.

Many folklorists point to the origin of the tale from myth. Researchers found evidence for this statement in archaic tales, the plots of which are associated with primitive myths, rituals and tribal customs. The motifs characteristic of totemic myths are present in fairy tales about animals. The mythological origin of fairy tales, which tell about the marriage of a character with an animal that has the ability to shed its skin and take on a human form, is also obvious. These are fairy tales about a wonderful wife who brings good luck to her chosen one and leaves him because her husband violates any prohibition.

Tales about visiting another world in order to free the captives languishing there go back to myths that tell about the wanderings of shamans or sorcerers for the soul of the sick or deceased. The plots of the myths that are typical for initiatory rites are reproduced in fairy tales about a group of children who fell into the power of an evil spirit, a monster, a cannibal and were freed thanks to the resourcefulness of one of them.

In a fairy tale, the most important mythological opposition of “one's own – someone else's” is preserved, which characterizes the relationship between the hero and his antagonist. In fairy tales, it is expressed in such oppositions as home - forest (child - Baba Yaga), our kingdom - another kingdom (well done - snake), family - a strange family (stepdaughter - stepmother), etc.

An important prerequisite for the transformation of myth into a fairy tale was its break with the ritual life of the tribe.

As a result, all prohibitions on telling a myth were abolished, and the uninitiated, including women and children, were admitted among its listeners, and this contributed to the development of conscious and free fiction.

Unlike the myth, in which the action takes place in the original times, the time and place of the action in the fairy tale become uncertain.

A fairy-tale action, for example, can take place in a distant kingdom, in a distant state in ancient times. It is clear that such a place does not exist in reality.

The deeds of fairy-tale heroes lose their cosmological significance, they are aimed at achieving the individual well-being of a particular character. So, the hero of a fairy tale steals living water to heal his father or makes fire for his own hearth, and not for the common good.

Unlike mythological heroes, fairy-tale characters are not endowed with magical powers. The success of the hero does not depend on his compliance with any magical prescriptions or on the acquisition of magical abilities. Miraculous powers seem to be cut off from him. They can help the hero in achieving the goal, act instead of him, or, conversely, harm him.

The fairy tale focuses on the relationship between people, including family relationships, while the theme of myths is dominated by global questions about the origin of the world, man and earthly goods.

Myth and fairy tale have a single morphological structure, which is a chain of losses of certain cosmic or social values ​​and their acquisition, which is the result of certain actions of the hero. However, the myth does not always imply a happy ending; in fairy tales, as you know, good always triumphs over evil.

Finally, at the stylistic level, important genre indicators that oppose the fairy tale to the myth are the traditional fairy tale formulas of beginnings and endings. In myths, the corresponding formulas indicate the time of the first creation (for example, "this was when animals were still people," etc.). At the same time, it should be noted that direct speech in fairy tales bears the imprint of some ritual and magical elements, although they are presented in a schematized form.

The distinction between myth and historical tradition, legends causes a lot of controversy because it is largely conditional. Historical legends include those works of folk art, which are based on events that actually took place in history. Such are the legends that tell about the founding of cities (Rome, Kyiv, Thebes, etc.), about wars, prominent historical figures, etc.

A clear example of the insufficiency of the named feature for distinguishing between myth and historical tradition is the myths of Ancient Greece. As you know, they include various narratives, often written in a poetic or dramatic form and telling about the founding of cities, the Trojan War, the journey of the Argonauts, and other important events. The plots of many of these stories are based on real historical facts and are confirmed by archaeological and other data, such as the excavations of Troy, Mycenae, etc. However, it is very difficult to distinguish between historical legends and myths proper, especially since images of gods and various mythological creatures.

Under the influence of mythology, the heroic epic also developed. In the archaic forms of the heroic epic, such as the Karelian-Finnish runes, the Nart epic of the peoples of the Caucasus, the Georgian legends about Amirani, the Yakut, Buryat, Altai, Kirghiz and Sumero-Akkadian epics, mythological elements are clearly expressed. The archaic epic is close to myth in its language. Mythological elements are also preserved in later epic works - "Ramayana", "Mahabharata", "Iliad", the German-Scandinavian epic, Russian epics, etc.

Literature, in particular narrative literature, is connected with mythology through the fairy tale and the heroic epic. Drama and lyrics at the initial stage of their development also perceived some elements of myth directly through rituals, folk festivals and religious mysteries.

A close connection with mythological ideas is also found by primary scientific knowledge, for example, ancient Greek natural philosophy, history as presented by Herodotus, medicine, etc.

Subsequently, when the process of isolating from mythology such forms of social consciousness as literature, art, political ideology, etc., they used the mythological language for a long time to interpret their concepts. In literature, painting and plastic arts, traditional mythological subjects were widely used for artistic purposes.

The motives of ancient, biblical, and in the East - Hindu, Buddhist and other mythologies became the sources of not only plots, but also unique imagery for poetry until the 19th century. In the 20th century, certain areas of literature deliberately turned to mythology. Writers such as J. Joyce, F. Kafka, T. Mann, the Colombian G. Garcia Marquez, A. Anuy and others not only used traditional myths in their work, often greatly changing their original meaning, but also created their own mythological plots, their own language of poetic symbols. So without knowledge of myths it is impossible to understand the plots of many paintings, operas, as well as the figurative structure of poetic masterpieces.

In conclusion of all that has been said, the following conclusion can be drawn. Mythology is not identical to philosophy, although it contains a lot of reasoning about the global problems of being. It does not belong to literary genres, although it has the merit of creating unique poetic images. Mythology is not identical to religion, but includes various cults and rituals dedicated to the gods. It cannot be called a historical narrative, although many myths tell about historical events. It can be said with full confidence that mythology is something universal, the first worldview system that is designed to answer a variety of questions, therefore it includes many different components.

The value of mythology also lies in the fact that it represents a huge layer of cultural development through which all mankind has passed, the most important phenomenon in world history, which has formed the basis of spiritual life for many millennia.

The first chapters of the book that you are holding in your hands give a general idea of ​​what myth and mythology are, the classification of myths and the history of the study of mythology. Further chapters tell about the features of the mythological representations of different peoples: the ancient Slavs, Scandinavians, Celts, Egyptians, Indians, Iranians, Chinese, Japanese, American Indians and Australian Aborigines. Particular attention in the book is given to ancient mythology (Greek and Roman). However, it should be noted that each of the described mythological systems has a unique originality and is therefore interesting in its own way.

INTRODUCTION WHAT IS MYTH AND MYTHOLOGY? 1

DEVELOPMENT OF MYTHOLOGICAL REPRESENTATIONS 1

WHAT ARE THE MYTHS 3

MYTHOLOGY STUDY 6

MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT EGYPT 8

MYTHOLOGY OF THE ANCIENT MEMOREAS (SUMERO-AKKAD MYTHOLOGY) 15

MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT GREECE 24

ROMAN MYTHOLOGY 38

INDIAN MYTHOLOGY 45

IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY 56

SLAVIC MYTHOLOGY 62

CELTIC MYTHOLOGY 72

GERMAN-SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY 83

CHINESE MYTHOLOGY 89

JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY 95

MYTHOLOGY OF THE INDIANS OF CENTRAL AMERICA 101

MYTHOLOGY OF THE INDIANS OF SOUTH AMERICA 106

MYTHOLOGY OF AUSTRALIA 110

ILLUSTRATIONS 113

Elena Vladimirovna Dobrova
Popular history of mythology

INTRODUCTION WHAT IS MYTH AND MYTHOLOGY?

We are familiar with the myths and legends of ancient peoples from school. Every child rereads these ancient tales with pleasure, telling about the life of the gods, the wonderful adventures of heroes, the origin of heaven and earth, the sun and stars, animals and birds, forests and mountains, rivers and seas, and, finally, the man himself. For people living today, myths really seem like fairy tales, and we don’t even think about the fact that many millennia ago their creators believed in the absolute truth and reality of these events. It is no coincidence that the researcher M. I. Steblin-Kamensky defines a myth as "a narrative that, where it arose and existed, was taken for truth, no matter how implausible it may be."

The traditional definition of myth belongs to I. M. Dyakonov. In a broad sense, myths are primarily "ancient, biblical and other ancient tales about the creation of the world and man, as well as stories of gods and heroes - poetic, sometimes bizarre." The reason for this interpretation is quite understandable: it was the ancient myths that were included in the circle of knowledge of Europeans much earlier than others. And the very word "myth" is of Greek origin and translated into Russian means "tradition" or "tale".

Ancient myths are highly artistic literary monuments that have survived to this day almost unchanged. The names of Greek and Roman gods and stories about them became especially widely known in the Renaissance (XV-XVI centuries). Around the same time, the first information about Arab myths and the myths of the American Indians began to penetrate into Europe. In an educated society, it became fashionable to use the names of ancient gods and heroes in an allegorical sense: under Venus they meant love, under Minerva - wisdom, Mars was the personification of war, the muses denoted various arts and sciences. Such word usage has survived to this day, in particular in the poetic language, which has absorbed many mythological images.

In the first half of the 19th century, the myths of such Indo-European peoples as the ancient Indians, Iranians, Germans and Slavs were introduced into scientific circulation. A little later, the myths of the peoples of Africa, Oceania and Australia were discovered, which allowed scientists to conclude that mythology existed among almost all the peoples of the world at a certain stage of their historical development. The study of the main world religions - Christianity, Islam and Buddhism - showed that they also have a mythological basis.

In the 19th century, literary adaptations of myths of all times and peoples were created, many scientific books were written on the mythology of different countries of the world, as well as on the comparative historical study of myths. In the course of this work, not only narrative literary sources were used, which were the result of a later development of the original mythology, but also data from linguistics, ethnography and other sciences.

Not only folklorists and literary critics were interested in the study of mythology. Myths have long attracted the attention of religious scholars, philosophers, linguists, cultural historians and other scientists. This is explained by the fact that myths are not just naive tales of the ancients, they contain the historical memory of peoples, they are imbued with a deep philosophical meaning. In addition, myths are a source of knowledge. No wonder the plots of many of them are called eternal, because they are consonant with any era, they are interesting to people of all ages. Myths are able to satisfy not only children's curiosity, but also the desire of an adult to join the universal wisdom.

What is mythology? On the one hand, this is a collection of myths that tell about the deeds of gods, heroes, demons, spirits, etc., which reflect the fantastic ideas of people about the world, nature and man. On the other hand, it is a science that studies the origin, content, distribution of myths, their relationship with other genres of folk art, religious beliefs and rituals, history, fine arts, and many other aspects related to the nature and essence of myths.

DEVELOPMENT OF MYTHOLOGICAL REPRESENTATIONS

Myth-making is the most important phenomenon in the cultural history of mankind. In primitive society, mythology was the main way of understanding the world. At the earliest stages of development, during the period of the tribal community, when, in fact, myths appeared, people sought to comprehend the reality around them, but they still could not give a real explanation for many natural phenomena, therefore they composed myths, which are considered the earliest form of world perception and understanding by primitive man of the world and of himself.

Since mythology is a kind of system of man's fantastic ideas about the natural and social reality surrounding him, the reason for the emergence of myths, in other words, the answer to the question why the worldview of primitive people was expressed in the form of myth-making, should be sought in the peculiarities of thinking characteristic of the level that had developed by that time. cultural and historical development.

The perception of the world by primitive man was of a directly sensual nature. When designating the word of one or another phenomenon of the surrounding world, for example, fire as an element, a person did not differentiate it into a fire in the hearth, a forest fire, a furnace flame, etc. Thus, the emerging mythological thinking strove for a certain kind of generalizations and was based on a holistic , or syncretic, perception of the world.

Mythological ideas were formed because the primitive man perceived himself as an integral part of the surrounding nature, and his thinking was closely connected with the emotional and affective-motor spheres. The consequence of this was the naive humanization of the natural environment, i.e. universal personification And "metaphorical" comparison of natural and social objects .

People endowed natural phenomena with human qualities. Forces, properties and fragments of the cosmos in myths are presented as concrete-sensual animated images. The cosmos itself often appears in the form of a living giant, from the parts of which the world was created. Totemic ancestors usually had a dual nature - zoomorphic and anthropomorphic. Diseases were presented in the form of monsters that devoured human souls, strength was expressed by multi-armedness, and good eyesight was expressed by the presence of a large number of eyes. All gods, spirits and heroes, like people, were included in certain family and clan relations.

The process of understanding each natural phenomenon was directly influenced by specific natural, economic and historical conditions, as well as the level of social development. In addition, some mythological subjects were borrowed from the mythologies of other peoples. This happened in the event that the borrowed myth corresponded to worldview ideas, specific living conditions and the level of social development of the perceiving people.

The most important distinguishing feature of myth is its symbolism, which consists in a fuzzy separation of subject and object, object and sign, thing and word, being and its name, thing and its attributes, singular and plural, spatial and temporal relations, origin and essence. In addition, myths are characterized geneticism. In mythology, to explain the device of a thing means to tell how it was created, to describe the world around it means to tell about its origin. The state of the modern world (the relief of the earth's surface, celestial bodies, existing breeds of animals and plant species, the way of life of people, established social relations, religions) in myths is considered as a consequence of the events of bygone days, the time when mythical heroes, ancestors or gods lived. creators.

"The heroic epic, even at the archaic stage, tells about the historical past of the people, presenting this past in a generalized way ... Historical memories in the archaic epic, to the extent that they are generalized ... use the language of not political history, but of fairy tales and myths. Mythological images here they are a means of generalization... Fairytale-mythological concepts...permeate the very essence of ideas about the people's past, and they cannot be separated" 8 .

Thus, a very curious process takes place when historical events and historical characters are mythologized; This process is rooted in the depths of millennia and, most interestingly, continues to this day.

Historicization of the myth

Then came the reverse process: the process of historicization of the myth. While the importance of history in the life of mankind increased, the attitude towards myth changed, and not in the direction of recognition or denial, but in attempts to subordinate it to various sciences, which, in principle, grew out of mythological thinking. Including history. Again, these efforts continue to this day.

The fate of the myth of the Trojan War is interesting. They tried to bring a historical basis under it back in the 4th century. BC e. Thucydides, for example, dedicates to him part of his work on the Peloponnesian War, and the Trojan War in his perception is not a myth, but a fact of historical reality. A similar thing happened with such a hero of myths as Hercules. His deeds tried to clean from the mythological husk. Herodotus, for example, and even earlier, Hecataeus of Miletus. Also, myths passed into the jurisdiction of philosophy. From them, in the first place, a certain symbolism was singled out. However, history and philosophy are not so far from each other, if we perceive them as sciences about the evolution of human consciousness.

In general, the dependence of the relationship between myth and history on human consciousness is very great. The myth, perceived as a certain moral scheme, has a huge impact on the realities of history, sometimes assimilating them.

"Mythology is preserved not because of its own stability, but because it is applied to everyday circumstances, it becomes an image of a constantly renewing meaning" 9 - says Academician A.A. Potebnya.

Really existing historical heroes, under the influence of mythological thinking, acquired the features of mythological heroes. Moreover, this happened both at the will of the real person himself, and at the will of those who created the legends about him. "The function of legend is in the mythological correction of history, the transformation of a chain of events that is meaningless from a mythopoetic point of view into a set of meaningful, i.e. canonical plots, in attributing to historical characters such properties that allow them to be significant characters from a folklore and mythological point of view " 10 .

In the Nibelungenlied, along with mythological characters, there is a historical character - Atzel, that is, Attila, the leader of the Huns. It also happens that a mythological character finds himself in a real historical setting - remember Beowulf. Finally, even chroniclers, that is, people who, in principle, should objectively record the facts of history, are not free from mythological thinking. Contemporaries of Ivan the Terrible claimed, for example, that in 1570, in the Novgorod pogrom, from 20 to 60 thousand people were executed. In the 19th century, historians called the figure 40 thousand. This is implausible, since the population of Novgorod did not exceed 30 thousand even in its heyday. It is now known that between two and three thousand people died in Novgorod (information from the report of Malyuta and the Synod of Grozny himself. They did not exaggerate).

However, in the first place, the layering of mythology on real history depended on when the works describing historical events were created.

"Heroic-historical works were created not only by participants in the events that are reflected in these works. They were also created later by persons who were not even contemporaries of these events. Another significant part of this section of folk literature is the epic processing of traditional, long-established works ... then there are historical names and events attached to existing plots. This is one of the specific features of folk art" 11 .

Thus, we can trace the chain of relationships between myth and history. The predominance of one or the other created extremely interesting models of reality - and literature. However, it cannot be said that the mutual influence of myth and history ended in someone's victory: this process continues. We can still observe such phenomena as the mythologization of history or the historicization of myth. As a rule, the latter is the privilege of literature, but the former is successfully applied in everyday life.